Covered from head to foot in padded protective gear, but with his extremities still dangerously exposed, this Afghan bomb disposal expert took his life in his hands to defuse this suicide bomber's explosive vest.

Security forces captured the would-be martyr before he blew himself up in Jalalabad earlier today, hog-tying the man to stop him detonating the device.

But before the suspected terrorist could be taken in for interrogation, the bomb squad had to be called in for the risky job of disarming the bomb strapped across his chest.

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Dangerous work: A member of the Afghan bomb disposal unit approaches a suicide attacker to defuse his explosive vest after he was captured before detonating it in Jalalabad province earlier today

One hundred miles down the Khyber Pass, in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, 17 people were not so lucky.

A car bomb exploded there as a convoy of paramilitary troops passed through the outskirts of the city, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens of others.

It was one of three blasts which killed at least 43 people in different parts of Pakistan today, just as David Cameron visited the country's capital pledging help to fight extremism.

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The heavily armoured Afghan National Army man gingerly, in scenes reminiscent of the blockbuster Hollywood war film The Hurt Locker, approached the suicide bomber wielding naught but a pair of wire cutters.

After carefully disabling the improvised device, the suspect was loaded, his face bloodied and still bound by his hands and feet, into a flat bed truck to be taken to a detention centre for questioning.

As the U.S.-led coalition which has occupied the country since 2001 negotiates the terms of its withdrawal, it is a task Afghans will increasingly find themselves carrying out.

The would-be martyr lies on the ground after his vest was defused: Before the suspected terrorist could be taken in for interrogation, the experts had to be called in for the risky job of disarming the bomb

Take him away boys: As the U.S.-led coalition occupying the country negotiates the terms of its withdrawal, dealing with such dangerous situations is a task Afghans will increasingly find themselves carrying out

The situation over the border in Pakistan is a sign of how bad things can be.

In
the deadliest of today's attacks, twin blasts near a Shiite Muslim
mosque in Quetta, the capital of south-west Baluchistan province, killed
at least 22 people, including two women and several children.

Senior police officer Ishtiaq Ahmed said 65 others were wounded in the attack.

Initial
reports indicated a hand grenade was used in the first blast, forcing
people to run in the direction of the mosque, where a suicide bomber
detonated his explosives, said another police officer, Fayaz Sumbal.

Murder: People shift bodies of the victims of a suicide attack targeting Shi'ite Muslims in Quetta, Pakistan

Designed to maim or kill: A man points to shrapnel damage in the walls of a building near the blast in Quetta

Radical Sunni Muslims have stepped up attacks in the past two years against minority Shiites, whom they consider to be heretics.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Suspicion will likely fall on the militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, which has carried out many of the attacks against Shiites in Baluchistan in recent years.

In Peshawar most of the dead and
wounded were civilians, although nine paramilitary Frontier Corps troops
were hurt, said police official Shafiullah Khan.

The blast struck one Frontier Corps vehicle, but the other passed by safely.

Ongoing: A man carries a boy who was injured in a bomb attack from the site in the outskirts of Peshawar today

Violence: Rescue workers collect evidence at the site of the Peshawar bomb attack, which killed 17 people

Scenes broadcast by local television news networks showed that the explosion damaged many other vehicles and shops in the area. Frontier Corps vehicles rushed to the scene, and a police officer collected evidence from the crater caused by the bomb.

Elsewhere in the north-west, a roadside bomb struck an army convoy and killed four soldiers in the North Waziristan tribal area, the main sanctuary for Taliban and al Qaida militants in the country, said intelligence officials. The blast also wounded 20 soldiers, the officials said.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks in the north-west, but suspicion will fall on the Pakistani Taliban.